Former LIUNA Local Employee in Nevada Sentenced for Embezzlement

If Las Vegas is the place to get lucky, then Aurora Rios hit the jackpot – sort of. On June 9, Rios, ex-office cashier for Laborers International Union of North America Local 872, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada to 18 months in prison, six months of home confinement, and three years of supervised release for embezzling funds from the Las Vegas union. Though ordered to pay $11,500 in restitution and $2,175 in fines, she could have owed a lot more. Rios had been charged in April 2010 with 21 counts of embezzling $167,500 and three counts of falsifying union records.

She pleaded guilty in April 2012. Rios was one of three persons charged in the case; the two others, Stacy Johnson and Aundrea Valerio, also pleaded guilty. The total theft, originally reported at $225,000, later was estimated at $320,000. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.